Twenty-five-year-old Matthew Hubacher, of New Eagle, remains jailed Thursday on animal cruelty and other charges in the incident Wednesday morning in Rostraver Township. That's about 25 miles south of Pittsburgh.
Township police say witnesses claim Hubacher also threatened a man working on a nearby roof, while making the claim about being God and the dog being the devil.
Police say Hubacher was gone when they arrived, and found that he swam across the Youghiogheny River before they caught up with him.
Online court records don't list an attorney for Hubacher.
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